“We heard lots of booing, but that’s life, and it’s emotions. We need to be better.” -- Pavel Datsyuk

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings might add a skilled player to their lineup Thursday. They could shuffle their lines by splitting up their best players for more scoring balance.

But more than anything, they just need to relax and have fun.

That was coach Mike Babcock’s message Wednesday to players he believes are over-thinking during a seven-game winless streak (0-2-5).

“Breathe, just play,’’ Babcock said. “We’ve had tough stretches every year that I’ve been here and as much as you have to work real hard and compete real hard it’s still not work-hockey, it’s play-hockey.

“You have to enjoy doing what you’re doing and it’s hard to play the game when you are tentative. When you’re tentative you tend to over-work and you end up duplicating things and guys aren’t doing their own jobs.”

But they need defenseman Kyle Quincey to be able to play, otherwise they must use their available cap space to recall a defenseman. Quincey didn't practice Wednesday due to "bumps and bruises.''

In any event, Babcock appears to be leaning toward splitting Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg in an effort to get production from more lines.

“We’re not finding a way to get any goals,’’ Babcock said. “Our best play was from (Datsyuk and Zetterberg) together. You have to have more than two guys going. We thought we had (Darren) Helm and Mule (Johan Franzen) going there pretty good. We’re going to see what else we can do.”

As well as he has clicked with Zetterberg, Datsyuk said, “Sometime (you) need change with different line.

“We had fun with Z, but not really fun when you don’t win game,’’ Datsyuk said. “Sometimes it’s better to (split), maybe we’ll start winning. … If we start winning we have a good chance to come back and play together.”

Datsyuk skated on a line with Todd Bertuzzi and Daniel Cleary while Zetterberg skated just with Franzen in practice (Nyquist might skate on the other wing).

“They’re dynamic together and they can jump-start (teammates’) seasons,’’ Cleary said.

“You have to work hard at the game, but you have to love doing what you’re doing. When things aren’t going good it’s easy to start over-thinking and pressing and then it’s not much fun. Let’s just dig in as a group, let’s trust each other, let’s trust the coaches and trust the structure and we’ll be fine.’’

Goaltender Jimmy Howard echoed those sentiments.

“Everyone go out there and do their own jobs,’’ Howard said. “For me, it's just concentrating on making one save at a time for the guys. For forwards, it’s getting control of that opportunity and for the (defensemen) it’s making that first pass so we can be faster in the neutral zone.

“If everyone just gets back to playing to their strengths we'll be fine."